Thursday, July 14, 2011

The 3-D Blame Game

Lately, there seems to be a lot of doom and gloom around 3-D, with the news media heralding it's impending death - again.

There appears to be a constant barrage now of newspaper, magazine and blog articles focused on the "public backlash" against 3-D movies. Most of these articles site the recent diminished percentage of 3-D ticket sales versus 2-D sales for the same motion picture releases. Typically, the blame is placed on the 3-D itself, assuming that audiences have tired of the 3-D "gimmick" that Hollywood has been foisting upon them. Stereo is being scapegoated as nothing but a money-making scheme by the studios, apparently with no artistic value.

The way I see it, there is an audience rebellion going on, but it's a backlash against mediocre cinema overall. 3-D doesn't make a bad movie better, and audiences are demonstrating that they no longer want to pay a premium price for a sub-par experience, and I don't blame them. The extra cost to attend a 3-D movie does make the stereo stand separate from the other technical and artistic aspects of the production, and makes it a target when the film doesn't live up to expectations. Mars Needs Moms was a bomb regardless of being 3-D, Pirates 4 was a poorly written sequel to an already tired series, and Green Lantern performed well below projected box office estimates in both 2-D and 3-D (while still coming in #1 at the box office during it's opening weekend, a full $20 million above the #2 picture, which to me says more about overall movie attendance than anything else). Saying that audiences no longer want to see 3-D based on poor performance of low quality movies, that happen to be in 3-D, is akin to shooting the messenger.

It would be just as easy to say that audiences no longer want to see movies with CGI effects, or with scored music. Or maybe the public just doesn't want to see any more movies with the word "Green" in the title, i.e. The Green Hornet and Green Lantern - Quick, Hollywood! Put The Green Mile 2; the prequel to Fried Green Tomatoes; and Soylent Green:The Musical into immediate turnaround!

Seriously, though, how about just being able to pay a reasonable price for an excellent movie.